


Not Alone

by Fibi94



Series: Universe Foxtort [1]
Category: Designated Survivor (TV)
Genre: Kidnapping, Multi, Not Emily friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2019-09-05 01:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16800559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fibi94/pseuds/Fibi94
Summary: Last thing Tom needed six months before the elections was a hurricane rampaging through Taurasi, thousands of homes were destroyed and hundreds of people missing...When a hurricane strikes Taurasi just months after a tsunami Tom visits the island,a visit that it's going to change the rest of his life.





	1. Chapter 1

Last thing Tom needed six months before the elections was a hurricane rampaging through Tarausi, thousands of homes were destroyed and hundreds of people missing, as air force one is prepping to land on the only runway fitting for a plane like air force one. The view upon first sight would fool everyone with most of the concrete structures of the capital withstanding the hit of the storm. Aaron had warned him of the devastation he would meet upon arrival; he turns back to the folder in front of him only to find himself unable to concentrate for long. The plane lands smoothly and Kendra knocks the door, she walks in dressed as always to the t.

“Time to go?” he asks, she smiles and nods, “Yeah Trey and I will be following behind.”

“Good, thank you.” Tom feels guilty, especially as he sees Kendra smile and turn around. On one hand he was over the moon that she was happy and he was going to be an uncle, and she loved his brother and made him the happiest he has seen, but on the other hand he knows how many things she had to give up because of that, her job, her anonymity and privacy, things so vital to her life before.

He wonders what Alex would say, would she have told him to keep her on the job no matter what or would she have advised like everyone else she resigns? He shakes his head there’s no use in thinking like that, but he realizes as the six months since her death are reaching closer and closer he is thinking of her more and more each day. His therapist says it’s normal and almost healthy to so he tries to believe him.

Walking to the exit he can see the crowd that has gathered just outside of the airport, he feels almost a sense of dread, he knows why that is, it’s still the campaign and people expect him to campaign even in the middle of a disaster. He shakes his head. Kendra is standing there with Trey, they are both dressed in casual clothes in muted earthy colors, there are so many shades of brown and gray in his life right now it’s ridiculous. He knows it’s not fair to compare Kendra to Alex but he knows for a fact she wouldn’t stand this, there's no way she would have let a stylist push her into a world of endless grays and browns and shades of gray and shades of brown. He wonders for a moment if maybe Kendra feels unsure stepping into this role, if it feels like she’s wearing a foreign skin and he makes a mental note to talk to her, these colors almost always wash her out, and he really misses the colorful and bright blazers, shirts and dresses she would wear. It was fun and reflected her personality greatly in his head.

“It’s a circus out there.” Trey says, Tom smiles and nods, “Just make sure you don’t stumble and fall.”

XXXX

Aaron feels worn out even thought they just started, they are in the outskirts right now, it’s quiet not so many people have stayed here, most gathering in the center of San Juan where the largest shelters have been set up, still thought they would find people outside their homes, with brooms wiping the water off as best they can, people looking through rubble to find a picture, something to remind them of their life before.

He had to give it to the president he was really good at this, he would get in the rubble with them search for pictures, once finding a couple’s wedding album, wrapping his arms around a sobbing teen who lost his grandparents, grabbing the extra broom and helping them wipe the floor. It was fulfilling, seeing him like that, seeing him help people. His brother by his side picking up heavy stuff, even getting under the rubble once to retrieve a cat that somehow got stuck there, “You know if we had cameras right now he’d win the election!” Lyor mumbles from his right.

“Yeah but that’s not what he wanted, I’m sure someone will post a picture or story about it after the event.” Seth responds it takes Aaron a moment or two to realize these two were talking to each other not minding about him even though he was right between them. He smiles and walks back, leaving them alone it’s not like they will notice his absence.

“Hey Aaron where are you going?” he hears Mars, the new chief of staff calling him “I need to walk a bit.”

He walks closer concerned, “You don’t look too well.” Aaron smiles, he and Mars go way back, all the way back to his first job in D.C. “I’ll try and walk it off” he says. Mars nods and walks back Aaron walks towards the other side from the house the rest were at right now, it’s a smaller road with most of the houses intact; many of the owners not back yet. This place reminds him a bit of a ghost town so he turns around to leave when a figure moving grabs his attention he’s a man in his mid sixties and he could swear he saw him before but can’t remember where. For a moment their eyes meet, and Aaron feels weird, he knows the man might recognize him and they are close enough to make it impossible for him to pretend he didn’t see him “Have a good day sir.” Aaron says nodding, the man, doesn’t smile he just waves, half of his face well in the shadows caused by his hat.

He shakes his head and walks back this place and its creepy, single resident, gives him the chills.

He feels his phone vibrating in his pocket and takes it out, seeing Hannah’s face flash on his screen brings a smile to his lips. He was glad they finally got to a point where they are friendly again with each other, after she came back from London with a crazy conspiracy that Emily was working with the Russians he couldn’t help it but feel a little worried that she had lost her mind, but then he saw the evidence the stone cold evidence starring him in the face, as Hannah gathered more and more proof that something was seriously wrong with the façade Emily Rhodes had on.

“Hey Hannah.”

“Hey handsome.” Aaron burst out laughing, he came to find out that Hannah was keen on making him feel uncomfortable right at the beginning of the phone call, some of her more recent pet names, were pumpkin, bunny ears, cuddle bear and gorgeous. “You’re never going to stop are you?” he asks, and hears Hannah chuckling from the other side, “It’s boring here, Aaron, all my leads have gone cold. So I thought I should call you, I saw the speech and visit to the shelter in San Juan I can only imagine how much more worse it is right now.”

“It’s terrible, there’s so many people that lost everything, and they are willing to dig through the rubble for a picture, a couple was crying, sobbing when they got their wedding album back.” He pauses, images of his childhood flashing through his eyes, Houston was a frequent target of hurricanes sure not category 5 super hurricanes but still, he had found himself in these people’s shoes way to many times. “It brings back bad memories you know.”

Hannah is silent for a while, she doesn’t know what to say, she can only imagine little Aaron Shore trying to dig through the rubble of his house to find his toys or pictures or anything and it breaks her heart a little “I can imagine Aaron,” she stops herself, she doesn’t know why she keeps doing all the things she does, why she keeps him close when she knows it will only bring him pain and harm, why she keeps trying to make him laugh, she doesn’t wanna know, but her mouth moves before her brain can work when she tells him, “If you need me I’m just a phone call away.”

XXXX

The motorcade gets back downtown but Aaron is still feeling a little dizzy, he wonders if maybe he should just quit while he’s ahead and go back to the hotel they’re spending the night, call it a day. He tries to find Mars but the older man is nowhere to be found.

Turning to his left he can see the man from earlier today, this time without his hat “What the hell?” he murmurs when he realizes where he knows the man from, he’s certain he’s Emily’s dad. Something feels off to him, he was sure her dad wasn’t working in Tarausi so there was no reason for him to be there, he looks around again and finds Seth standing a little closer to him than the rest, “Hey Seth.” He turns around almost startled that someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Oh hey Aaron what’s wrong?”

“I’m not feeling too well, can you tell Mars I’ll go back to the hotel? I need to sleep it off.” He tries to act as normal as possible, hoping he pulls it off, Seth nods “Sure, sure don’t worry go and sleep it off man, you look like death warmed over all day.” Aaron smiles and turns around swiftly going towards the hotel, he had no intention on sleeping anything off but he does remember the small rental car sign next to it. He is relieved to see that Emily’s dad is also going towards the same direction, he imagines because the only undamaged underground parking lot, he almost barges into the small office the only person in there is probably the owner just looking through some of his papers, “Hey, I’m sorry I need a car.” Aaron says, he keeps looking outside hoping he won’t lose Emily’s dad who’s still trying on different hats across the road.

“I don’t have any computers man, can’t help you.” Aaron feels like chocking, “Listen man, I’m the president’s national security adviser,” he pauses not knowing if he should lie, “My aunt is alone at her home and I need to get to her. She can’t walk and I don’t want to involve the secret service so please, I’ll give you as much as you want” the man looks at him for a moment almost as if he’s trying to decide whether to trust him or not. “I’ve seen you on TV before, alright, I need cash though.” Aaron nods, “I don’t have much on me, I have about $300 but I can wire you more as soon as I’m in D.C.” the man smiles. “Nah man how long you gonna need the car for?”

“A few hours to drive to my aunt’s home and back.”

“You’ll need a large car?”

“No, I don’t think so.” Aaron says, for a moment he thought about renting an SUV or pickup truck but he realizes quickly that if he does he will stand out like a sore thumb and Emily’s dad will figure out someone’s following him.

“Then it’s $50 and we’re good.” Aaron smiles “Thank you.” He follows the man to the garage and takes the keys the man gives him.

He waits for a moment and then drives out, he can see Emily’s dad getting in a black pickup truck and sees him taking one of the roads leading outside the city, he starts driving a good distance behind him, grateful that for now the road is not empty with vehicles still moving up and down. The farthest away from the city they drive though the fewer cars are driving around and Aaron starts feeling a little worried that he will get caught. He reaches in his pocket and takes out his phone, Hannah’s number is the first on the list, he presses dial and waits, it doesn’t take her long to answer the call.

“Aaron what is going on?” she asks, her voice worried, “I saw Emily’s dad in Tarausi but I’m afraid if I keep following him he’ll realize it and I will lose him, could Chuck trace his phone or car if I give him the license plate?”

Hannah’s voice gets caught in her throat, she turns to Chuck who’s sitting a few feet away from her, “Wait I’ll ask him.” she covers the mic with her hand “Hey Chuck could you trace a car if I give you a license plate?” Chuck looks up from his laptop “If the plates are not switched, or I could trace a phone number.”

“Hey can you hear me?”

“Yeah tell me.” Aaron couldn’t hear what Chuck said clearly, “Chuck says if the plates aren’t switched he can or a phone number would work as well.” Aaron nods, “Ok the plates are BHH 8554 and remember the coat I left at your place, look in my inside pocket you might find a business card Emily’s dad had given me. If you don’t get anything with the car.”

“Alright Aaron,”

“Found it!” he hears Chuck calling, “Hannah give me the phone!” his voice comes on the line “Hey Aaron, listen to me, next exit take it, it’s gonna lead you to a parallel road.”

“Ok.” For the next half hour Aaron follows blindly Chuck’s instructions not saying much as the young tech leads him deeper and deeper in a forest, “Listen you’re gonna end up face to face with his car, so ditch it and go by foot.” Hannah’s voice comes back on.

“Face to face?” he asks confused, “Yeah Chuck got to the same place by taking a circle. Trust me ditch the car.”

Aaron kills the engine and takes his things from the car, “I am gonna hang up now, I’ll call when I know more, if I don’t call in an hour, just send my location to Mike Ritter ok?”

“Okay, be careful.”

Aaron hangs up the phone puts it on mute and hides it in his pocket as he tries to slowly reach what seems like a cabin, soon he sees Emily’s dad come out of his pickup truck shutting the door forcefully and hides behind a tree. Peeking he can see that the man got in the cabin before he walked closer.

For a while everything seemed normal he could hear some muffled voices but he couldn’t tell who was who or what they were talking about, he soon feels disheartened, he knows that by calling Hannah he gave her hope he might find something but now here he was listening to a man and possibly the TV, he’s just about to turn around and leave when he hears a loud bang that makes his heart freeze, he knows this sound, it’s the sound of a revolver going off. His uncle had one growing up and he knows the sound very well, he can almost guess it was a large caliber weapon.

His heart is beating loudly in his ears and he walks slowly towards the front of the cabin trying to find a door or something to enter. It feels like ages but it’s only a few minutes when he finds the door, he's relieved it’s not locked so he pushes open gently, the scent of blood fills his nostrils and he looks around to see where it’s coming from, he almost vomits when he looks to his left, a young man no older than 40 is lying on the floor by the dinner table with a large gunshot wound on his head, blood covering his slightly disfigured face, he quickly turns around and tries to find anything else.

He sees a door leading to a basement, it’s wide open but no light comes from the basement and he wonders what will he find there, he walks slowly, it’s silent, he can hear the floorboards creaking under his shoes and the carpet. He gets to the door but there’s nothing he can see clearly, until he looks at the base of the stairs when he sees him lying dead and her standing in the shadows over him.

XXXX

Aaron almost runs out of the cabin, he doesn’t know what frightened him more but he can’t sit in there any longer, he’s barely out when he just falls to his knees, his stomach turning and just vomits on the grass, he can feel tears falling down his cheeks, his hands shaking, he knows he should get back inside, but he can’t, he can’t, the smell of blood is too strong, he tries to get himself together, just enough to call anyone, he debates if he should call Hannah first or Mike, he knows he needs to inform Mike first but he also knows Hannah will be worried, he decides to send her a text, he knows he can’t mask his horror from her, so he texts her telling her he’s fine and that he has a lot to tell her later and lets it at that, she seems to understand what he meant cause her text came just a minute later with a simple ‘ok’

It takes him a while to dial Mike’s number but he manages it after a few minutes, “Ritter!”

“Mike, it’s Aaron I need you to get the president to my location immediately.” He says, he knows that Mike is gonna ask questions but right now he can’t answer them.

“What it’s going on Shore” he asks, “Can’t tell you over the phone, just get him here, I’ll send you the coordinates” he says, he tries to sound as sincere as he can but he can hear the emotions rampaging in his voice. “Okay.” Mike says, he knows that he’s not going to send the president here alone but he’s ok with that, he’s just about to hang up when he hears Mike’s voice again, “Shore, is he gonna be safe?” Aaron manages to smile for the first time since he spoke with Hannah earlier, “Yeah.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tom is sitting in the back seat of the SUV, just starring at the trees passing him by as the car gets deeper and deeper in a forest, he starts feeling disoriented soon but doesn’t say anything, Mike was acting weird, giving him a baseball cap as soon as they got to the hotel and getting him out the back door and into an SUV. “Mike where are we going?” he asks after a while, the silence in the car is driving him crazy, “You’ll see sir, Aaron Shore called he said there’s something you need to see.”

Tom is puzzled, Aaron was feeling sick and went to the hotel early, “Aaron was sick, wasn’t he?” he asks, Mike looks at him through the mirror, “Apparently he wasn’t sir, but he says there’s something you need to see, I’ll be close behind.” He says trying to reassure him, Tom is still slightly worried even though he tries to hide it. When they reach the clearance he can see Aaron pacing up and down from a cabin to a pickup car and back.

Aaron sees the SUV reaching closer and stops pacing, he looks at the two men coming out of the car and tries to calm himself down, it didn’t take Mike long to get the president there, he knows it’s only been twenty minutes.

Tom looks at Aaron the young man looks worried and slightly relieved that he is there, Tom leans towards Mike “Stay back and call the others.” He whispers “Are you sure sir?” Tom looks up to Mike, he doesn’t know why but he finds himself gravitating towards the cabin “I’ll be fine. Go get the rest.” Mike nods and walks back to the car to call the rest of the detail while Tom walks closer to Aaron, “Aaron what is going on?” he asks, he keeps his voice low, he doesn’t want to alert Mike to how terrified he’s actually feeling right now. The cabin as much as it draws him closer is also terrifying. “I need you to get inside sir” Aaron says, Tom looks away from the cabin,”Inside where?” he asks trying to act like he didn’t know what Aaron was asking of him, Aaron knew though, he could see right through him “Get in the cabin sir” he says, his voice steady, it frightens Tom even more, he doesn’t know why but he feels almost as if he couldn’t breathe, Aaron’s weird behavior was confusing him, “Aaron is everything alright?” he asks the man, Aaron smiles softly.

“It will be sir, just get inside and don’t look to the left, trust me.” Tom bites his lower lip and nods, “Ok” he says before he turns around and walks to the entrance of the cabin.

Mike sees the president walk to the entrance of the cabin and starts moving closer, Aaron stops him putting an arm now “What the fuck is going on Shore?”He asks angrily.

“He needs to see, on his own.”

XXXX

Tom pushes the door open softly, trying not to make a sound Aaron’s words ‘Don’t look to the left’ are ringing in his head but his curiosity gets the best of him and he looks, the sight of a young man in his 40s shot in the head makes his stomach turn so he looks away, he’s about to turn around and run out when a door leading to the basement catches his attention, there was no light coming from the basement and it was probably empty but he still started walking towards it.

When he gets to the top of the stairs he takes a look around, he can feel the bile raising when he saw another dead man at the base of the stairs and he turned his head towards another side, a head of blonde hair catches his attention, it seemed to belong to a woman, she was almost curled next to a bed, knees touching her chest, her head hidden on her knees, the hair falling around her covering her face completely from view. He takes the first step down the stairs and then the second without even thinking. He tries to get the woman’s attention but she doesn’t seem to have heard him, or even care he was there.

When Tom gets to the base of the stairs he looks away as he steps over the man lying there, “Excuse me?” he says, that seems to get the woman’s attention, she raises her head and he can see her shoulder raising and falling faster than before. He sees her slowly turn around, and he soon finds himself staring at the face of the woman he thought he lost forever. “Tom?” Tom almost chocked when he heard her voice, “Alex?” he starts mindlessly walking closer “What…” he murmurs.

Alex tries to stand up, trying to get closer to Tom but her leg gave out beneath her and she fully expected to hit the hard concrete floor but Tom almost leaped forward, he doesn’t even understand how he got that close, his body reacting faster than his brain can process, they both lose their balance and fall to the floor, Tom carefully trying to take most if not all of the force of the crash. They are both out of breath and neither makes a try to get up, Tom sits back, leaning against the bed, pulling Alex closer, she makes an attempt to move from his lap where she had landed but he just wraps his arm tighter around her waist, terrified that if he lets go she’ll evaporate as if she never existed.

Alex leans towards his chest, leaning her head on his shoulder, hiding her face, she missed the scent of his aftershave, the warmth of his skin, “How did you find me?” she asks him her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

Tom finds himself unable to take his hands off of her, “Aaron called me.” He says, there’s a question still bugging him, it’s eating him alive “How? How are you alive?” he asks, Alex raises her head from his shoulder, he instantly misses the warmth of her breath on his skin. “I don’t…” she stops, taking deep breathes trying to calm her ragging heartbeat down, “I don’t know. Tom I think I killed someone.”


	3. Chapter 3

_“I don’t know. Tom I think I killed someone.”_

Tom moved his body in a way trying to obscure the view of the dead body a few feet away when he caught Alex looking over “What happened?” he asks her when he feels she’s a little calmer, “I don’t know, I… what do you wanna know Tom?” she asks him, “Everything, Emily told me there was nothing to be done and that you got to the hospital dead.” The moment she hears the name Emily she feels uncontrollable anger raising in her, but tries not to scream, “Tom, the guy… you know on the stairs was Emily’s dad.” She tells him, the look on his face was one of pure shock, “What?” he asks puzzled. Alex realizes he had no clue on what was happening and she was taken aback for a moment, how could he not know? Did his loyalty to his staff blind him so much? “Yeah and the one in the kitchen was her ex.” She sees the color quickly draining from Tom’s face. And he's slowly trying to understand what he had heard.

“Oh my god. Did Emily knew?” he asks, he tries to wrap his head around what Alex told him, but he feels like it’s impossible, and yet the truth is there, he barely turned his back at the lifeless body of Emily’s father, he tries not to look at Alex right now, she had this look on her face, the look that she always had when she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He feels her hand on his cheek pulling his face closer, their eyes meeting, “Of course she did. Tom Emily is in Pax Americana.” She tells him.

“What?” Alex can see that Tom starts feeling overwhelmed, he can’t really believe everything he’s hearing, but she also knows that he needs to understand the whole story to believe that in reality the biggest leaker and traitor was just under his nose the whole time. 

“Let me start from the beginning,” she says, “I remember, I remember Harris calling my name after the accident, I was in so much pain, my head was throbbing, I couldn’t feel my right leg my shoulder was dislocated, it was bad, but I remember he was frantic so I just told him I was alright and…” she takes a deep breath, trying to remember everything that happened, she almost can feel the pain again, “To call you tell you that. He told me not to worry and that the ambulance was on its way and as soon as we got to the hospital he would call you. When the ambulance arrived I remember there was a fight because there wasn’t any space for the secret service agents.” Alex stops and bites her lip, she doesn’t remember much, she was getting a little drowsy at this point “Um, Harris and I think Mellissa were telling the paramedics that at least one of them needs to be there, but they, I don’t remember clearly what happened but they didn’t came on. Emily’s ex was one of the guys on the ambulance, Chris, his name was Chris, and I’m sorry it’s just so hazy, I think he injected me with something because I lost conscience in the ambulance and I woke up in this basement.” Tom can hear a sob almost rising in her throat. He feels overwhelmed as well, he feels so happy and almost honored to be trusted with this story, “Alex, we can stop.”

“You’re too sweet, but I’m fine, it will be better if I talk about it right?” Tom smiles, she’s almost too stubborn to stop mid-story. He tries to pull her closer which she doesn’t stop him, somewhere deep down he’s still feeling as if she’s gonna disappear soon, as if he’s just moments away from waking up alone, without her, once again.

“That’s what therapists say at least.” He says thinking of what his own therapist tells him constantly, Alex chuckles; it makes Tom’s breath get caught in his throat for a moment. “What happened when you woke up?” he asks her as soon as he gets his thoughts in order.

“I was on the bed; I was in and out of it pretty much for the first month or two. I hadn’t seen Emily’s dad at this point just Chris, he would come downstairs and you know check on me and made sure I was healing alright.” Tom can’t help but notice how her voice changed to really sympathetic when she was talking of Chris, he imagines this is the man that he saw dead in the kitchen and his heart aches when he thinks that she probably heard the gunshot that killed him, the only friendly person in this hell she had to endure for months. “It confused me, it really did. Emily’s dad was like the boogeyman when he was here everything got slightly worse, the food would be worse, or less, I once went almost a month without seeing light. But he also didn’t care, he would just not care, he reacted as if I wasn’t there, I’d ask what does he want, when I could go home and he just … he would pass me by as if I didn’t existed.” Alex pauses for a moment, she knows what she’s about to say and she isn’t sure how to say it, she’s afraid how Tom might react as well, but she won’t admit it ”I think it was about four or three months ago when one day he came downstairs and when I asked him again what he wants he had this look on his face, it was, I can’t describe it but he turns and tells me ‘What’s the hurry going back home it’s not like anyone waits for you anymore, or even wants you there,’ and he showed me a newspaper, there was a picture of you and another woman Dr. Frost I think at a science fair.” Tom closes his eyes, he knows exactly what picture Alex was talking about and by her description of Emily’s dad he also can imagine the article as well, he hates himself right now, knowing that, even unknowingly he cause pain to Alex, to one of the only people on earth he promised to never hurt, he can hear the hurt in her voice, even though he knows she tries to mask it, he still knows her well enough to hear it. “I was devastated, didn’t even read the article, or the name of the newspaper, so about a month after that, Chris came downstairs one day and he sees the old paper by the floor and he, we started talking, he actually made me look at the picture and I realized, first it was the New York Post so yellow pages at their best and second you still had your wedding ring on.” Tom looks at Alex, the smile on her face it’s short lived but it makes him feel so much better right now, he still knows he needs to tell her about Andrea, she needs to know what happened, even if it wasn’t much, she needs to know of his almost unhealthy and blindly devotion to her, “Um, when Emily’s dad was out of town we would speak and he’d spend time with me actually talking, he’d bring me new news papers, he even let me watch you speech on his phone, by the way running as an independent is ballsy.” She says chuckling, Tom shrugs which only makes her laugh even harder, he enjoys the sound of her laughter, it sounds as if nothing happened, as if they are the same thirty years olds just now starting their lives.

“Why didn’t he let you go?” Tom asks, Chris sounded like an all around stand up guy apart from this little detail, he still didn’t let Alex go, he still assisted in keeping her here, in this cold and dark basement in an island miles away from shore and thousands of miles away from her family.

“He was scared, he got me some paper and a pen about a month ago, I wrote you a letter and he send it, he told me he did two weeks ago I think.” Tom looks at her puzzled, he tries to think back on any letters he got in the last month but nothing, there was nothing even suspicious, he imagines if anyone on the secret service got the letter they would have contacted Mike who would have recognized Alex’s handwriting and brought the letter to him but he can’t remember anything,”I didn’t get it.” He says but Alex doesn’t seem surprised by this. “No, Emily did. She told her dad, and when he came today he was furious, I heard them fighting and then a bang, and Chris was silent.”Alex feels the tears filling up her eyes for the first time, till now she was almost too shocked to even cry, anger and adrenaline helped her keep going, but right now, sitting on Tom’s lap with his arms around her, her heart gripping his shirt, even the cold basement feels like home.

“What happened after that?” Tom asks, his voice breaking a little, he knows what the result is and he’s totally ready to let her off the hook if she doesn’t want to talk to him at all, but Alex doesn’t seem to mind telling him, she takes a deep breath and clears her throat before she starts telling him of what happened. “Her dad opens the door and it hits me and I fell backwards, I don’t remember much, I remember seeing the gun that I remember, and I remember at some point fighting over the gun, I finally managed to kick it away, which I regretted immediately because um, he pinned my down easily and he started choking me, so I kicked him,” the moment Tom sees her biting her lip, he starts laughing, at first he masks it like a cough but he can’t stop it and soon he sounds like he’s struggling to even breathe, “Oh shut up!” she says with a large smile on her face, she knows exactly the memory that made him laugh hysterically and she’s having a hard time not following him as well. “I’m sorry it’s just, remember that guy at the restaurant, it was right after Leo was born, right?”

“Yeah, he couldn’t walk afterwards.” She says, the two of them take a moment, just remembering of a much happier time in their life when their biggest issue was a colic baby and assholes who didn’t know where the proper boundaries in civilized society are, it doesn’t take long thought before they are both reminded of the situation they are now in, Tom just pulls her closer if that’s even possible. Alex knows that she might as well have bruises on her arm tomorrow by how tightly Tom is holding on to her but she doesn’t mind one bit, “I got up and I kicked him on the head, to make him dizzy and maybe make my escape but he grabbed my leg, I kicked him on the face again and I remembered I had the pen Chris gave me in my pocket, I push him down and I just remember stabbing the pen in his neck and pulling it back,” Tom notices how as she’s telling him what happened, her eyes just glazed over starring blindly to the wall over his shoulder, her free hand just mindlessly following the same movement it made earlier “it must have artery or something because he bled out really quick.” She stops and closes her eyes, trying to just anchor herself back to reality, “After a minute or two I think I saw Aaron but he disappeared, next thing I remember is you and when I heard your voice I was sure my head was playing games, but it wasn’t.” she says, a warm smile forming on her lips, Tom smiles back, for a moment he also thought his eyes were playing games when she first turned around and saw him standing there, kinda frozen, his hands by his side just hanging limply, “Why didn’t you run after he was dead?” Tom asks her.

“I tried when I saw Aaron, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t even see straight.” She says, Tom can see the tears filling her eyes again, this time he breaks “It’s enough, let’s”

“Stop?”

“Yeah stop. Let’s get out of here, alright?” he says, Alex nods, “Okay.” Tom stands up carefully as not to disturb her leg he already knows she injured during the fall, and offers her a hand to help her up.

Even with a possibly broken leg she seems to be standing up quite effortless and gracefully. It took them a while to figure out how they were going to maneuver walking up the stairs before Tom just gives up, “You know what I’m gonna do something I haven’t done since we moved in the White House” he tells her right before he just picks her up. It startles Alex a lot who whelps as she feels her leg leaving the ground. “What are you doing?” she asks him as he starts walking towards the stairs, a shocked smile on her lips as Tom just effortless steps over the dead body on the base of the stairs.

“Carrying you upstairs.” Alex closes her eyes and shakes her head, the smile still plastered on her face as she wraps both arms tighter around his neck. Tom knows full well that his back will hate him very soon but he doesn’t mind carrying Alex not only up the stairs but to the car as well, since he noticed very early on this that she only is wearing socks and he sure as hell isn’t going to let her walk barefoot through grass.

When he walks out he sees many more cars around the small cabin, most of his detail are there, along with an ambulance, he assumes that Aaron informed Mike of everything that happened, Mike is nowhere to be seen right now, so Tom walks to the car, he sees that his detail didn’t drove the beast here, he assumes for safety and secrecy, a Cadillac limo is not easy to miss after all, so he walks towards the car he and Mike drove here, Aaron is leaning against the front door of the car talking to the phone which he quickly hangs up when he seems the approaching, “So it was you at the top of the stairs.” Alex says when she sees her, “Yes ma’am I just realized it was you a little too late.” He says offering an apologetic smile to both of them.

“Tom let me down.” She says to Tom who is still stubbornly holding her up “Will do,” he turns to Aaron who seems slightly amused at the imagery in front of him but doesn’t say anything. “Aaron open the back door please.” Aaron nods and opens the door for Tom who then carefully places Alex on the seat, he has a smug smile on his lips and turns around running to the other side before Alex had an opportunity to playfully punch him in the abdomen, which he was sure she will.

Alex leans towards Aaron “Thank you for calling Tom. And giving me some time.” She tells him softly, she just manages to finish her sentence before Tom enters the car from the other door. Alex moves her feet inside the car and Aaron closes the door with a short knowing nod towards her.

Alex turns to Tom who’s now sitting next to her, the smile he had before slightly fading now that it’s just the two of them again. Alex moves closer to him again, leaning her head on his shoulder, now that they are out of the basement she actually feels much warmer, and a little sleepy, she feels almost afraid to close her eyes though, scared that she will wake up to everything being a dream once again.

“Are Penny and Leo here?” she asks him, she wanted to see them both so much, secretly hoping they had accompanied Tom to Tarausi , even though she knows full well they couldn’t have. “No, um, no but we can call them as soon as we’re on air force one.” He tells her, looking down at her she looks up, he can see the smile forming on her lips, “Okay.” She sits up, still leaning towards him, Tom puts his arm around her shoulders, he can’t explain why but he can’t really stop touching her, just making sure that she is indeed there, right next to him, that it is her breath on his neck. “I’d love to talk to them, tell me, what happened while I was gone?” she asks, Tom is almost beaming with pride as he’s about to tell her what happened, especially with Leo getting into Stanford and Georgetown, but Mike interrupts him before he can even say a word. “Mike, we’re leaving?” he asks trying to cover how startled he was.

Mike can’t stop the smile from forming in his lips, he won’t admit it, and to whom he could, but he likes seeing how different the president was when his wife was there, there was instantly a difference, almost as if a switch got turned on telling him that everything would be ok now. “Yes sir, ma’am.” Alex smiles back “Hey Mike.”

“We’re good to go you’ll go straight to the airport the plane is ready to go when you are. The medical team is there as well waiting for you ma’am.” Alex nods, her smile changing slightly, she knows she needs to see a doctor but the whole prospect of going back on air force one makes her anxious, what will people say? Tom’s candidacy is already hanging by a thread, what if she ultimately is the reason he loses the election, the first time ever he runs for anything.

“Thank you Mike.” Tom says, Mike closes the door, the couple is left once again alone with just their thoughts running wild in their heads, Tom can see that something is really bothering Alex “What’s bothering you?” he asks her.

“Will you still love me if you lose the election because of me?”


	4. Chapter 4

The secret service decides it’s better if Alex boards air force one first before anyone else does to avoid having any added security risks, Aaron, the only one from Tom’s staff aware of what’s happening, agreed, “Yeah this is better to be released on our terms sir.” He had told Tom and he had to agree with him, this wasn’t something he wanted his kids learning from the TV before he could actually tell them himself. It was so hard on Tom to return to the hotel even if it was for less than 30 minutes while Alex was driven to the airport. He insists Mike’s the one in the car and although that gives him some comfort he’s still restless.

Alex was sitting in the back of the car, Mike sitting in the seat next to her following Tom’s orders to a t, she looks out the window, the devastation the hurricane had caused, she can’t believe how lucky she was to have survived this. “Is there anything bothering you ma’am?” Mike asks, she turns away from the window, “I can’t believe how I survived this.” She simply tells him.

“You were lucky ma’am, the cabin was high enough to be out of the danger zone and surrounded by enough strong trees not to be crushed,” he says. Alex leans back, she never really thought about it, but she imagines that the same thing Emily’s dad was looking when he first brought her to the cabin, someplace away from others, was the same thing that spared her life after all. “How did you guys find me? I mean I know Aaron warned you but how did he find me?” she asks hoping Aaron told Mike how he did in fact find her.

“He saw Dave Rhodes twice during the day and the second time he decided to follow him, I can’t get into too much detail but Agent Wells was on Emily’s tracks for quite some time now. He saw it as a potential lead and took it.” Alex nods, Hannah being on Emily’s lead sounds totally realistic to her, she knows Hannah Wells well enough to know that she’s like a dog with a bone when she finds a lead, and she sure would uncover that something is wrong with Emily, she can’t help but feel a little bitter that it took her so long, she wonders what would have happened had Hannah figured out that Emily was behind it all earlier, maybe she would be found earlier or maybe she wouldn’t have been kidnapped at all, these thoughts make her really bitter towards the FBI agent, even though she knows there was no way Hannah could magically think Emily was in Pax Americana, how could she after all, with Lloyd dead they all thought Pax Americana was dead. They had caught their traitor as well the case was closed, but still. She knows this is something she will definitely have to work on.

“Remind me to thank Aaron and Hannah will you?” she tells Mike.

“Of course ma’am.”

XXXX

Tom decided to leave the hotel a little earlier than planned, he found sitting in his room alone knowing that Alex was already in air force one and having no one to talk to about it was excruciating, he’s sure everyone in his entourage hates him right now, and he can’t really blame them, he would too if he was in their shoes, having to get up, pack and go at a moment’s notice, at least half an hour before they were supposed to leave was probably one of the most jerkish things he has done. He just hopes they’ll understand why he is doing this.

“Kendra, Trey you guys come with me.” He tells them before getting in the beast, Kendra gets in first and sits down at the seat across from him, Trey follows her closely behind sitting next to her, “Is there something wrong Tom?” he asks him, Tom feels like bursting out, the smile on his face is almost starting to hurt.

“I don’t know where to start from but Alex is alive, she’s waiting in air force one.” Trey looks at Kendra, she also has the concerned look on her face, they both love Tom and seeing him as happy as he is right now is amazing but they are worried he might actually be losing his mind. “Tom Alex is dead, you buried her remember?” Trey says, Tom shakes his head, “Let me explain, Alex wasn’t really dead, it’s a long story but the short version of it is that she was kidnapped, by someone in Pax Americana.”

“The group that blew up the capitol?” Kendra asks, she thought Pax Americana was dead, she clearly remembers telling Aaron, without really telling him, how they could kill the leader of the group. “Yes, we all thought after Lloyd died the group died with him but it didn’t Dave Rhodes was the one who with the help or maybe guidance of his daughter planned the kidnapping of Alex, she didn’t die in the ambulance like we were all told.” Kendra blinks a couple times, this feels so unreal to her, she lived for six months in incredible guilt over the fact that she survived when Alex didn’t and now she finds out that Alex was alive all along and the only person to blame was the person that pretended to be everyone’s friend, none other than Emily Rhodes.

“Never liked Emily to be honest.” Trey says, Tom looks at him puzzled, Kendra knew that he didn’t particularly trust her, she is surprised that he admits it in front of his brother that he never liked her, but his feelings towards the former Chief of Staff were definitely not a very well kept secret of her husband.

“You didn’t?” Tom asks.

“No, she always seemed a little…” he pauses, trying to find the right word, the situation is getting a little too tense for his tastes so last thing he wants is to blunder it worse by saying the wrong word. “She seemed a little too cocky, you know.” Tom nods, “I used to think this was a feature to be honest, now I can see how it’s not.”

“Did you tell Penny and Leo?” Kendra asks, interrupting them, Tom turns to her, “No, not yet I wanted you guys to be with me, Alex wants to talk to them but I think it will be easier if I tell them first right?” Kendra smiles and nods, she loves how considerate Tom is with his kids, and she can only hope she will be able to be like that with her kid, Trey is convinced she will be, because in his words she has no reason not to be, she imagines that’s something every expecting mother goes through and makes a mental note to actually ask Alex about it.

“Wanna call them now or wait till we get to the plane?” she asks him, “I think now would be better.” Tom takes out his phone from his pocket, his finger hovering over the dial button next to Leo’s picture, for a moment frozen, unsure on what to tell his son, he raises his head and looks at Trey and Kendra sitting across from him, “What do I tell him?” he asks worried, how can he tell these news to his son?

“Just tell him the truth, like you told us.” Trey tells him, Tom nods, in this moment the most powerful man on earth reduced to a bundle of nerves and worries as he calls his son.

“Hey dad, Penny and I were about to call you.” Leo says from the other side of the line, “Leo” Tom clears his throat, he feels like his voice doesn’t know how to work, it’s weird to him it came so easily for him to tell Trey and Kendra so why is Leo so much more difficult. “I have something to tell you, something very good.”

“Very good? What?” Leo asks.

“Your mom is alive.”

“What?” Leo sounds breathless, “Dad what the hell are you talking about?”

“I can’t explain everything not over the phone, but, she’s alive, she was kidnapped, by people in Pax American who made it look like she died in the crash, I don’t know why,”

“I don’t care why” Leo interrupts him. “She’s alive isn’t she? Who cares about why.”

“Yeah, can you explain to Penny, I know there’s not much to explain, but I’m sure mom wants to talk to you both so,” Tom doesn’t want to explain what is happening to Penny over the phone, not while he won’t be able to comfort her, to just be there and hug her, explain to her patiently what is going on, but he also knows that’s not an option, it’s not something they will be able to keep secret till they are in D.C., it’s not something _he_ wants to be kept secret for so long.

“Sure dad, don’t worry,” Tom can almost hear his son’s thoughts in this pause, “Is there anything else Leo?” he asks, “Is mom there, I mean with you?”

“She’s with the doctor now, she probably has a broken leg”

“Is she ok?” Leo asks, “Yeah, she just took a tumble down some steps, she was fine, otherwise.” He bites his lip, he knows Alex is not fine and won’t be for at least some time but he doesn’t need to burden Leo with it, not yet at least.

“Ok, tell mom I love her as soon as you see her alright?”

“Sure.”

Tom takes a deep breath and puts the phone back in his pocket, “Well?” Trey asks, “He took it well, really well.” He says, he’s a little worried that the other shoe is going to drop hard on them, but for right now he's willing to just sit back and enjoy the good times for as long as they last.

This time the space around the airport is empty, sure it’s night and most people are probably home or in the shelter resting but he can’t help but feel a little grateful that there isn’t any extra attention right now, still he Kendra and Trey perform their usual choreography to a t, Tom goes first, alone, and then about ten steps behind Trey and Kendra follow him, timed perfectly even when he has to wave to photographers and people at the top of the stairs they still have time to be closely behind and not be too high up to obscure the picture.

When they get in the plane Tom almost instantly goes to Mars who is already on the plane and tells him to get the entire staff in his office as soon as humanly possible before informing the pilot that he is indeed on board.

The take off was as always perfect, he knows he will miss this 100% success when it comes to a smooth landing and takeoff. In his nearly two years in office he has to admit that he hasn’t experienced one bad landing or take off, even if he had some bumpy rides, the take offs and landings were always perfect.

As soon as the plane levels off his staff enters the office, Mars, as usually sits on the chair across from his desk while the others are sitting on the couch across the small room. Aaron knows what is going on, and Tom can see him biting the inside of his cheek trying not to scream what he knows and he is actually thankful for that.

“So I got you all here, because I needed to tell you something very important. Something that will drastically affect all of our daily lives.”

“Sir are you sick?” Jamie asks, she’s the new communications director, Tom smiles “No Jamie, no, earlier today I found out with Aaron’s help that someone many of us thought as a friend is indeed a traitor, and one of the worse kinds as well. Emily Rhodes is part of Pax Americana; the group responsible for staging the accident my wife had last December. When Alex survived the initial crash they, I assume panicked and kidnapped her, brought her to Tarausi , Aaron was incredible today when he recognized David Rhodes around San Juan and earlier in the suburbs we were visiting and decided to follow him, he got to the cabin where they keeping Alex and called Mike who got me.”Tom can see some of the newer members of his staff having an easier time accepting what he told them, the same couldn’t be told about the older members, other than Aaron who already knew and he assumes had time to process the information, Seth and Lyor, the other two older members of his staff, looked devastated, “Emily is Pax Americana?” Lyor asks he tries to cover the shock and betrayal but his voice betrays him. Seth sitting right beside him seems to be shocked speechless. “I know it’s hard to believe, I couldn’t believe either, but the evidence was there, Agent Wells has been on Emily’s trail for months according to what Aaron told me, and Alex confirmed to me that Emily was indeed in on the plan.”

XXXX

Alex was starring at the ceiling for over an hour now, she started counting the tiles on it but she was bored after the fifth time. She wonders how Mike could keep Tom from storming downstairs; she will probably have to ask him about it.

When the doctor opens the door she’s almost startled, “Oh hey doc, I thought you forgot me.” The woman smiles, “No of course not ma’am.” She says closing the door softly behind her, “I got the results back, everything came back well ma’am, I’m just going to set your leg in a cast and you’re good to go.” She tells her, Alex breathes a sigh of relief, she’s so glad that other than an actually broken leg and not (thankfully) ankle, there was nothing wrong with her. “Really?” she asks Dorothy, the woman smiles again, “Yes.” Alex closes her eyes breathing out for the first time in what felt like ages to her, “Thank you.” She says reaching for the redhead’s hand, “No need ma’am, I’m glad you’re ok.” Alex nods, she doesn’t have much of anything else to say, so they stay silent as Dorothy carefully places Alex’s leg in a cast, the painkillers she gave her when she first arrived at the plane were good enough not to feel most of the pain that comes from broken bones.

When Dorothy is done she helps Alex up, “I am going to get you a walking book that goes over the cast, I just would like to wait for a few hours, alright.” Alex smiles and sits on the wheelchair the doctor brought over for her, “No worries doc. I just have a question for you.”

“Ask ahead.”

“How much of a prick was my husband these past six months?”

“Respectfully ma’am I’ve seen some pricks, your husband was a cactus.”

XXXX

“What we need to focus on right now is how to announce to the world that the first lady is alive, was kidnapped and not tip off the public about Emily because I assume she’s not arrested yet?” Seth asks Aaron, “Yeah Hannah is in on it but she hasn’t made a move yet.”

“Wait wasn’t Hannah out of the FBI?” Lyor asks, “On leave,” Aaron points out/

“How do you suggest we go ahead with it Seth?” Tom asks Seth, “Well sir, I can have a statement ready before we land, we release it to the press I’ll answers questions here before we land and then as soon as we’re back we set up a more concrete strategy.” He says, Tom nods, he likes the sound of the plan so far, he was almost terrified that they might suggest they keep it a secret and that was the farthest from what he wanted to do. “Walking out of the plane and marine one together would also help sir, it would be a nice opportunity for a photo op, a sign of unity as you present your wife back to the world, also a joint interview, a tell all interview would also help boost both your image and the first lady’s image in the eyes of the public down the road.” Lyor adds, Tom is not feeling very comfortable with that, he had seen other presidential couples do it in the past; it’s just something that always made him cringe. “Let me ask Alex first, see if she’s ok with it alright?” Lyor nods, he knows he’s not ok with it but the young man also learned how to respect his wishes more lately, he imagines hanging out so much with Seth must have rubbed off on him. “Thank you all we’re done here.” Everyone started leaving the room but Lorraine, she was his campaign manager and it wasn’t that Tom hated her he just wouldn’t agree with her all the time, Mars seeing Lorraine staying back he stops at the door, “is everything ok?” Aaron asks, “We’ll see” Mars says and closes the door behind the man.

“Is there anything I can help you with Lorraine?” Tom asks sitting down at his chair. “This will lose us the election sir.” She tells him, Tom looks up puzzled, he doesn’t know exactly what she means, what ‘this’ the plan formulated by Lyor and Seth or was it Alex, he has to admit he doesn’t like either option. “What are you talking about?” he asks her, “the first lady sir, her coming back from the dead? It’s totally going to destroy your chances of winning. People will see it as cover-up, as a way for you to gain sympathy, they might even start spreading rumors of a divorce or abuse, your image will be dragged through the mud.” Tom leans back on his chair, she isn’t telling him anything he didn’t already knew, divorce rumors for him and Alex started spreading almost instantly after he took office, it was something that always happened, and it will keep happening. “So what do you suggest? That it would be better if Alex just disappeared again?” he asks he’s getting quite angry at this moment, “Not forever but until the elections come and go yes.”

“The elections are six months away, my children were without their mother for six months already, I was alone for six months, I’m not putting them through his for another six months and I won’t put myself through it either.”

Tom dismisses them both with a nod, Mars is about to close the door behind them when Tom calls his name “Yes sir?”

“Do you agree with what Lorraine said?” he asks, “To a level sir, I agree that the first lady coming back will initially cause us some trouble, sure rumors will fly and sure some of them, most of them will be totally horrible, it will put you and the first lady and your kids through hell, but no I don’t think the way to deal with it is to keep the first lady, essential a prisoner for another six months.” Tom nods, he agrees with Mars, he sure does, “What do you suggest?”

“I think, by putting the first lady out there, having her give interviews talk about the trauma and her experience, when she’s ready of course, have her out there campaigning be visible that’s what’s gonna make people like her, it will make them sympathize with her. Up until now, you didn’t know what was happening and the first lady had no way to escape and inform you and the world of it, meaning that she was alive, but that changed the moment Aaron Shore found her in that cabin and decided to contact Mike Ritter. Now if you follow what Lorraine said, you will be responsible for actively deceiving the American people.”

XXXX

Tom was exhausted, he wanted to see Alex so much, he got up and walked in the bedroom next to his office, he wanted to check there, hoping she’s back from seeing the doctor. He opens the door and sees her sitting on the bed, her left leg wrapped in a white cast, propped up on the bed, she’s wearing a pair of surgical scrubs, he imagines Dorothy gave her, he knows he has to apologize to her later, in the last six months he was, to put it mildly, an ass.

Alex looks at the door and smiles, “Hey” she says extending her hand towards him, he walks fast towards her, both his hands gripping hers tightly; they were apart for barely a couple hours but if felt like ages to both of them. “Hey” he says smiling, Alex leans closer and plants a kiss on his lips, it makes him smile, it’s unexpected but he’s not one to complain, “Doctor let you out soon, I was gonna change and come downstairs myself.” He says, Alex laughs rolling her eyes,”Yeah I think she doesn’t wanna see you for a few months.” She tells him a knowing, mischievous smirk on her lips. Tom closes his eyes and lowers his head, “Yeah I was a prick” he admits the smile still on his lips as he peeks to see what Alex was doing.

“She said you were a cactus, that’s worse Tom.”

“Fine!” he says throwing his head back, it makes her laugh, and he knows if acting like an idiot was funny to her he was willing to keep doing it for the rest of his life, he kicks off his shoes and reaches for a pillow from her left and puts it against the wall, he leans back getting comfortable, he opens his arm and Alex moves slowly trying to get comfortable as well, “You ok?” he asks her, she didn’t mention anything about what the doctor told her, he could see the cast of course, but his hyperactive brain made all the worse scenarios of what she might have gone through, he saw the place, first thing he could notice is that the hygiene didn’t seem to be the best and he knew that the food wasn’t either. Alex smiles, “Yeah, everything came back okay, and she set my leg put it in a cast, other than having to wear a plastic bag on my leg to shower for a month I’m fine.” She tells him.

Tom finally is able to breathe normally again, all the terrifying thoughts in his head finally shutting up. “Good.”

“I need to take a shower though, change, just some cleans clothes you know.” She tells him, Tom nods, “Let me help you,” he stands up from the bed and offers her his hand to help her stand up from the bed, “I’ll tell Kendra to come with cleans clothes in let’s say thirty minutes?” he asks her, Alex smiles and nods, thirty minutes sounds just enough time to get a shower, even if she will have to balance in one leg. “Yeah that’d be good.” Tom nods and helps her into the small walk in bathroom, it was smaller than Alex remembers it, “You’ll be ok?” he asks her handing her the plastic bag, Alex looks at the noisy object like she wanted it to catch fire before taking it from Tom, “Yeah I’ll be fine, thank god this bathroom isn’t that big.” She tries to joke, Tom smiles tightly. “Okay I’m gonna tell her.”

As soon as he closes the door behind him Alex takes a deep breath, this wasn’t the first time she was alone since they found her but she feels different this time, looking at herself in the mirror in front of her she can finally see her reflection for the first time, she looks thinner, a lot thinner than she remembers, and paler if that was even possible, she was right when she thought that her hair had been cut off, because they barely reached her shoulders, it seems chopped unevenly and she wonders if there’s someone on the plane to fix it for her, she shakes her head, it’s just hair and hair grow back, she slowly takes off the almost paper thin shirt, her collar bones are so much more prominent right now. It almost scares her how much weight she had lost, for a moment a terrifying thought passed through her mind, what if Tom sees her like that and is repulsed by it, “Don’t be stupid” she murmurs, Tom is not like that, he will obviously not care as long as she was healthy. She slowly pulls down her pants and underwear and sits down to the closed toilet seat trying the plastic bag securely around her cast. It takes her a while to walk in the shower she turns on the water the sound of the water covering the sound of the door opening, she feels a cold breeze hit her back and turns around, she was about to scream and hit whoever it was with the bottle of shampoo she had in her hands, “Tom.” She says lowering the bottle when she sees who it was, at first not noticing he was naked as well, she sees him entering the shower and looks at him puzzled, ”What are you doing Tom?” she asks him but he just looks at her as if she asked him the most obvious question in the world. She rolls her eyes trying hard not to smile, but she was unable to, “Fine.” She tells him, turning around to fully face him , her arms wrapping around his waist, his hands around her shoulders, one hand playing with her hair the other just gently rubbing her back, there was nothing sexual in this moment for either of them, just two people finding some comfort in each other’s familiar bodies. Tom is the first to break the silence, “Could you give me the shampoo please?”

XXXX

“Lorraine can I have a word please?” Mars calls Lorraine, it took him a while to find the redhead woman but there was something he needed to tell her “What? You threw me under the bus didn’t you?” she tells him, she’s furious he can tell, “Look you weren’t completely wrong out there, but right now he doesn’t need that, he doesn’t need us telling him what he already knows, he knows this situation will make his way back to the White House tougher than before, he knows it, right now he doesn’t need it from us too, what he needs right now is support, he needs us to give him a plan, to make sure we have it under control, he needs us to be happy for him.”


	5. Chapter 5

Kendra waited until the half hour passed before she got up and started walking towards the bedroom in the front of the plane, Trey just steps behind her, “I’m telling you baby we do not wanna be that close to them right now.” Kendra rolls her eyes, Trey is convinced they are about to walk in on some weird presidential porn for some reason, “Trey Alex is in the shower.” She reminds him, Trey looks right and left before leaning closer to her, “With my brother.” He tells her.

“Trey!” this is getting ridiculous, “You don’t know them like I do.” He tells her. Kendra stops walking, she’s standing between the office and the presidential bedroom, her hands on her waist, “She was held hostage for six months I’m sure they’re not having sex.” She tells him before turning around and opening the door; as soon as they walk in they can both hear clearly laughter coming from the bedroom next door. She smiles, “See? Laughing.” She says to Trey showing the door, Trey narrows his eyes he still knows them better than anyone to actually know they are probably butt naked laughing/making out but he keeps his mouth shut, Kendra turns towards the door, “Guys Trey and I are here.” She calls out, “We’re coming out in a moment.” Tom calls back, there’s another round of laughter coming from the couple in the bathroom, Trey rolls his eyes but the smirk on his face gives away his true feelings, “Decent I hope?” he says, “We will be wearing clothes if that’s what you’re asking.” Alex responds before another fit of laughter interrupts her, it’s not long till Tom and Alex walk out of the bathroom, Tom is already dressed in his black pants and shirt, being almost ready to walk out the plane, Alex on the other hand is wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a Cornell shirt it makes Kendra wonder just how many Cornell shirts Tom has.

Alex leans towards Tom and grabs his shirt, pulling him closer, “Ok see you soon,” she whispers against his lips before kissing him lightly, Tom licks his lips, a grin stuck on his lips, “Yeah.” He mutters and turns around walking out; he’s almost out the door when he calls his brother’s name, “Trey!”

“I’m coming brother dearest.” Trey yells of the top of his lungs, Kendra closes her eyes and shakes her head, she loves him that’s for sure, but he’s also the biggest dork on the face of the planet. Trey turns to Alex, and walks closer to her wrapping his arms around her shoulders, “I’m glad you’re ok sis.” He whispers to her, Alex smiles and tightens her arms around Trey for a moment, she had missed him too much and she couldn’t be happier that he and Tom patched things up. “I missed you” she whispers to him, Trey smiles and pulls back “Yeah me too.” He tells her before giving her a kiss on the cheek, he pulls back and turns around walking towards the door he can see his brother is standing by the door to his office waiting for him he gets to the door and turns around, “You two, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Kendra turns back to face Alex, “What a dork!” she says, Alex smiles and walks towards Kendra giving her a hug, “Kendra!” almost as soon as her arms wrap around the other woman though Alex pulls back, she instantly knows something is different with her, “Are you pregnant?” she asks, Kendra blushes slightly, “Yeah, Tom didn’t tell you?” to say that Alex wasn’t surprised when she heard Kendra call her husband by his first name she would be lying, “Tell me what?” she asks sitting down on the couch across from the bed. “Oh that’s a long story.” Kendra says, she turns around leaving a bag on the bed and a box down on the floor, “I have time.” Alex says smiling; Kendra turns around, “A five hour plane ride to be exact.”

Kendra shakes her head, “Fine” she says and walks towards Alex sitting down, she usually doesn’t feel very comfortable talking about her and Trey, especially how they got together, but right now she feels like Alex needs this enough to overcome her privet nature. “So about four months Trey and I had a one night stand which, let’s say didn’t stay that way. Month later I find out I am pregnant, and we eloped the next week on our way back from the doctor. Tom wouldn’t talk to us for a week or so.” She says, Alex smiles, of course Tom would be mad that they got married without telling him, Trey had given an extremely embarrassing speech and she knew for a fact that Tom was looking forward to paying him back, by Trey getting married without telling him he really robbed him of a great moment he waited for, for 18 years. “Congratulations, and he was right not to talk to you guys.” She says it but she is glad they eloped, it’s selfish but she wants to be there to see Trey seeing his bride walking down the aisle, she wants to be there and witness the moment they exchange their vowels. “We’re planning on having an actual ceremony you know, that was just, spur of the moment. Negative I had to resign and act as a first lady which I hate.” Alex chuckles, she understands what Kendra means, she can imagine just how much more trouble Kendra had in this position, at the end of the day Alex always had Tom to go back home to, having the most powerful man on earth sleep next to you had its perks, it made the job just a little easier, all these positives Kendra didn’t have and she also had to deal with a job almost as constricting as a straightjacket. “All the scrutiny huh?” Alex asks.

“Fox News criticized me over a staples dress I wore two weeks ago, it was hotter than hell in D.C.”

XXXX

“How’s Kendra?” Tom asks Trey as soon as he closes the door to the office behind him. “She’s good, why are you asking?” Trey is a little surprised that Tom asks him about Kendra, usually he asks herself and not him.

“It’s just that she looked a little worn out earlier.” He says, Trey smirks “Yeah the morning sickness has stopped but the sleepless nights have began.” He says smiling; he’s exhausted as well but doesn’t mention it, his exhaustion is nothing compared to Kendra’s after all he’s not carrying a human being.

Tom stands up and walks to his brother still standing at the door and leads him towards the seating area, “How are you Trey?” he asks, Trey shakes his head a nervous laugh on her lips “I’m fine” he says, his voice just a little too high pitched, gives away how not fine he was.

“Trey you are having a baby with Kendra, after a relationship that’s barely older than the baby, it’s ok to feel overwhelmed, confused even.” Trey looks at his brother, he almost forgot that he went through the same thing about nineteen years ago. “Here’s the thing, I’m not confused I know I want to be with Kendra and our kids, but I do feel overwhelmed and worried, what if I am a terrible father? What if I turn to him.” Tom sits back, he knows what Trey means, he was terrified he’s going to turn into his father every time Alex was pregnant, “I was too.” Trey looks up surprised; he never really asked Tom about it, they both didn’t seem very keen on asking each other anything having to do with feelings. “I was terrified and worried and overwhelmed, and I am not saying that I am the greatest father on earth or something, but it gets better, when you have the right person with you all the insecurities, the fears, they all get better.”

XXXX

“I brought you a couple dresses, with the cast and the boot it will be easier to put on.” Kendra says opening the bag she left on the bed, “I didn’t know what you’ll like so” she picks up two different dresses, one lace white one and one in black with short sleeves, “Brought two” she says showing the two hangers, Alex takes her time looking at the two dresses, neither were really her style, or Kendra’s to be exact, but she imagines that’s just another thing Kendra had to endure and she will have to endure in the future. “The black” Alex says showing to the dress in Kendra’s right hand, at least it had interesting sleeves which was something. Kendra smiles and leaves the dress on the bed, “Want me to help you get in it now?” she asks, Alex shakes her head, they have many hours in their flight and last thing she needs is to be in this dress for all of them, “Yeah better not, I also got you a pair of flats, obviously you’ll need only one, but better than walking out in slippers.” Alex smiles, she’s glad Kendra is taking charge of these things; she doesn’t feel like she could handle any of those things on her own. “Kendra one more thing?” she asks when she sees Kendra getting ready to leave. Kendra turns around “Sure.”

“Can someone handle this?” Alex asks showing at her hair, “Not permanently but cover it up, sure.”

“Thank you.”

Alex waits for Kendra to leave before she buries her face in her hands, she feels drowning in everything around her, stepping back into the first lady role was one of the more daunting ideas. Even more than the thought that Emily was probably still somewhere out there walking the streets free.

She stands up and shakes her head these thoughts will only send her into an early grave if she doesn’t deal with them, she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and groans she really hates how her hair look right now. She wonders if she can find an elastic band or something just to put her hair in a ponytail before she rips them out strand by strand. She finds one in the makeup bag Kendra had left there, and smiles, she quickly throws her hair in a ponytail and sneaks out the bedroom and in to Tom’s office, he was studying some papers for a moment and she tries to be as silent as possible, not wanting to really disturb him, she likes seeing him work. “You are starring” he says not taking his eyes from the documents, Alex chuckles, “I like seeing you work.”

She walks towards him and leans against his desk, for a moment Tom needs to think what time it is, he feels like he’s been here before, he knows he has. He blinks a couple times and reaches for Alex’s hands, he notices that she threw her hair in a ponytail, he can’t say he minds, but it’s certainly something he’s not used to seeing. “You and Kendra are done?” he asks, he imagines they did but for a moment the silence was getting too much to handle.

“Yeah, she left me a couple of clean clothes to wear when we get to D.C. I guess walking out in my husband’s sweatpants and t shirt is not a good look.” She says, Tom smiles “Probably not.” He says, Tom sits up and helps Alex to the couch on the other side, they take their time getting comfortable before Alex turns to him with a mischievous smile on her lips, “You know how we can get back at Trey and Kendra?” she asks him, Tom smiles of course she got Kendra to tell her everything that had happened in six months, “Throw them a big ass wedding in the White House?” he says, he’s been thinking of that for months but never really going through with it, always feeling an unexplained sadness when he would start to actually plan it. “Yes!” Alex says exited, she has a large smile on her face Tom blinks, “I thought so too.” He murmurs, “Let’s call Penny and Leo.”

“Yeah.”

Alex takes a deep breath as she sees Tom walking to the desk and getting his phone from there, once again for the second time in a day he finds himself stalling from pressing dial. He takes a deep breath and does, the look of excitement in Alex’s eyes gives him the courage to press dial. Leo picks up the phone almost immediately, “Hey dad” he says, Tom can hear his rush, he knows he can’t wait talk to Alex, and he smiles, “Hey Leo, can you get Penny and put me on speaker phone.” He says.

“Sure, is mom there too?” Leo asks, Tom looks at Alex and smiles “Yeah, she is.” Alex looks at him puzzled, “You told them.” She mouths, Tom smiles almost apologetic “Yeah, earlier, sorry.”

“Thank you.” She whispers, she was glad she didn’t have to explain what happened to their kids, she was barely able to get through telling Tom.

He gives her the phone, and Alex waits for Leo to be back with Penny. “Mommy!” she smiles when she hears her little girl speaking “Hey peanut.”

“You’re really there.” She says almost as if she didn’t believe what she was told, Alex bites her lower lip, the thought that she cause this pain to her own child is killing her, “Yeah, I am”

“I missed you so much mommy!” Alex puts her free hand over her mouth stopping the sob that was building in her throat, Tom wraps his arm around her shoulder pulling her closer, she's thankful he does “I missed you too, we’ll be there in a few hours” she says when she manages to get her voice back to normal, Tom shows her four fingers, “in four hours actually.” 

“We’ll be waiting.” Leo says, she wishes she could be there faster, just to be able to see them and hug them. “You’re not leaving again are you?” she says, her voice soft and uncertain. “No peanut I’m not, ever again, ok?” Tom raises his free hand and wipes a few tears that threatened to escape. “Love you mommy.”

“Love you too peanut.” Alex waits unable to even breathe, she barely heard Leo on the phone, she wishes he will talk to her, “Love you mom” she breathes out when she hears his voice, “Love you too sweetheart.”

“Can you give me dad for a moment?”

“Sure.” She says giving the phone to Tom, “Leo wants to talk to you.” She says, Tom looks puzzled, and takes the phone from Alex, “Ok,” he stands up and walks towards his desk, “Hey Leo.”

“Dad could Penny and I come meet you at the airport?” he says, Tom chuckles he didn’t expect that but it was for sure the best of the options he had thought, “Sure, ask Jake if he says yes, it’s fine by me.”

“Thanks.” Leo says exited.

“Bye”

“Bye dad.” Tom shakes his head and leaves the phone back on his desk before he walks towards Alex again. “What did Leo want?” she asks him when he sits down, Tom was about to tell her when he stops himself, “Nothing something about a school function I told him to ask Jake the head of his security.” He says, it seems that he had gotten better in lying because Alex doesn’t seem to realize that he lied to her, “Leo must hate that.” She says.

Alex is certain that Leo hates having an actual detail following him around, “Kind of, he likes Jake though; I guess they’re closer to age and doesn’t give him too hard of time. I know for a fact he lets him go to some parties he should not be going, but he’s good, nothing has leaked, and Leo has a normal school life.” Tom says, Alex smiles, she’s happy that Leo managed to have a semi normal school life, after they moved to the White House this was one of the biggest issues Leo had, he couldn’t just invite people over, they had to go through security and get cleared by the secret service and he couldn’t go to their houses either because the secret service would have to secure the houses and the area around causing too much of a hustle for everyone involved. She feels a stab when she realizes that she missed one of the most important moments in her son’s life, she wasn’t there to help him choose which college to apply to, she didn’t get the chance to tour campuses with him, “Where did he get into?” she asks. Tom smiles widely, “Pre Law in Stanford.” He says, “Stanford!” Alex says, she feels so happy and proud of her baby, she always knew he was smart and he could do anything he put his mind to, but she was afraid, after they moved to D.C. he seemed more interested in building a social circle than actually studying, “Yeah.” Tom says.

It takes Alex a moment to realized what else Tom had told her, “Wait you said pre law?” she asks him, Tom nods, “Yeah his mother’s son, through and through.” Alex can feel the tears welling up in her eyes, “Ok, here come the waterworks.” She jokes as she wipes a few tears that escaped. Tom chuckles and pulls her close, “Yeah, I cried like a baby the moment he turned his back.” He says, Alex can’t stop the tears falling from her eyes, she feels so proud and happy for her son, finally managing to push back the voice in her head telling her that she was a terrible mother for not being there, “I can imagine.” She tells him.

They sit like that for some time, silent before Tom remembers what Lyor told him earlier, he doesn’t really know how to tell Alex about Lyor’s request for a photo op. “There’s something else I would like to ask you, I told my staff everything and Seth will be releasing a statement very soon, Lyor suggested we do a photo op, walk out the plane together and at a later time an interview.” He says, Alex looks at him puzzled, she thought this was not up for a debate but apparently it wasn’t. “What did you tell him?” she asks him, Tom shrugs, “I told him I’d ask you.” Alex nods, she doesn’t really want to have to do the photo op or the interview, she knows it’s something almost costmary for presidents and first ladies in the past, especially when there was some tension in their marriage to just go ahead and give a joint interview but it was always so cringe worthy and difficult to watch, “It’s election year, you need all the positive publicity you can get.” She tells him, Tom nods, “In his opinion so do you, you need to build a connection to the public, I think that’s how he said it.” He says, Alex nods, she knows she needs to, usually first ladies don’t win or lose elections for their husbands, she doesn’t want to be the first to lose an election for her husband, she trusts Lyor’s judgment so she agrees, “Ok.” She says. Tom looks at her surprised; he didn’t expect her to agree so fast with this plan. “Ok?”

Alex smiles, he seems surprised that she agreed, “Yeah” she tells him smiling, “But you gotta help me cause I’m still getting the hang of walking with this boot.” She tells him showing him the black boot covering her cast. Tom looks down puzzled, “Oh” he says, he wonders how the hell he could have missed it for so long.

“Yeah doc gave it to Kendra, goes over the cast so you can walk.” she says smiling, “I don’t know why I didn’t notice that.” He says surprised, Alex shrugs, “You need new glasses?”

XXXX

Alex decides to try and sleep for a little, Tom feels the tiredness weighting him down as well so he decides to join her, “When was the last time you slept?” she asks him as soon as they get comfortable in the double bed, Tom chuckles, “I think it was three days ago,” he looks at her face starting to harden with fury and he knows he shoot his own foot with that, “I’ve napped in the in between.” He tries to defend himself. “Napping doesn’t count unless you’re younger than five Tom!” she tells him, Tom winches, she’s right but he had so many things to do that he just forgot. He decides not to tell her that he forgot to sleep because he knows there will be even more hell to pay if he does. “Fine I promise I’ll sleep more than eight hours tonight unless there’s a war.” He tells her raising his hands “Cross my heart.”

“Nuclear war, nothing less.” She tells him. Tom chuckles, “whatever you say”. Alex nods and leans down next to him, she uses his shoulder as her pillow. It doesn’t take either long to just fall asleep.

XXXX

Kendra looks at her watch, they have about forty minutes before the touch down on Andrews air force base and decides to get up and go check what Tom and Alex are doing, “Where are you going?” Trey asks when he sees her getting up “To see what Tom and Alex are doing, see if Alex needs any help.” She says Trey nods and smiles “Knock, trust me.” Kendra rolls her eyes, “Of course I will.”

She walks to the bedroom, unable to stop the stupid smile from her face, she can’t help but smile at his comments, she gets to the bedroom and knocks the door leaning towards the door she can’t hear anything so she opens the door carefully, looking at the bed a large smile forms at her lips, Tom and Alex were both asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms, she walks carefully towards Tom and gently nudges him, Tom blinks a couple times, “What?” he asks, “Oh Kendra.”

“Hey, we land in forty,” she tells him Tom groans, “I’ll wake up Alex.”

“I’ll be waiting outside.” Tom nods and waits for Kendra to get outside before turning to Alex, he feels terrible to wake her up she seems to be so peaceful sleeping. He takes a deep breath calls her name, he can see her burying her face deeper into his shoulder, just trying to avoid waking up “Alex,” he leans and kisses her temple “Alex we are landing in forty minutes” Alex opens her eyes almost as if she doesn’t want to wake up fully, “Tom?” she says Tom smiles “Hey.”

“What time is it?” Tom leans back and gets his watch from the bedside table “Ten p.m.” he says, “Oh shit, we land in less than an hour.” Tom smiles, “I need to figure out what to do with this” she says showing her hair. “Kendra is waiting outside,” Tom says. Alex breathes out “Oh thank god.”

“I’ll let you two to it then.”

XXXX

Alex is trying to get the hang of walking with the boot, she keeps playing with the end of the sleeve of the dress. It’s a little too big on her but Kendra worked her magic temporary fixing the issues making it seem almost as if the dress was tailored to her measurements, she was glad the hairdresser was on the plane as well, there wasn’t much she could do but she did manage to at least cut all of her hair in the same length which wasn’t too bad, she wasn’t used to see herself with shoulder length hair but she can’t say she hates it.

Tom walks out of his office and sees Alex waiting for him, she is sitting next to Kendra the two of the chatting away, “Hey.” He says and helps Alex up from the seat. “Ready?” he asks her, Alex nods, the door is already open, it’s dark outside, but the lights from the plane and on the airbase shine through the windows. Alex grabs Tom’s hand tightly, as he leads her towards the door, he lets her walk out first before walking out behind her, he can follow her eyes landing on Penny and Leo waiting for them at the base of the stairs, still smiling she leans closer “Tom are those?” she asks him, Tom can’t stop the smile on his lips from getting bigger, “Yup” he tells her, “You son of a…” he needs to admit he’s impressed with her ability to keep smiling, even though he can imagine she’s a little annoyed with him, even if it is for simply lying. “Sorry, little white lie.”

“Fine.” They start going down the stairs slowly, Alex is holding Tom’s hand tightly her other hand gripping the handrail on the stairs, she turns towards the other side, the photographers flashes are almost blinding. “Look at all the people.” Tom turns his head towards the many journalists and photographers that were there, “That’s too many journalists; I didn’t even know the press corps had so many.” He says chuckling.

Alex doesn’t care about any of the reporters thought, the closer she and Tom get to the base of the stairs the closer she gets to her babies and that’s all that she cares about. “Mommy!” Penny runs to her as soon as her feet hit the concrete, Alex almost loses her balance but Tom grips her waist a little tighter to help her stabilize, she turns to him and smiles, they don’t need words between them, she leans down and hugs Penny the best she can, “Mommy what is this?” she says showing to the dark boot, “Oh this? I broke my leg on some steps and this is my new shoe for a month.” She says, she doesn’t get into more details, Penny doesn’t need that, Tom leans down and picks Penny up, “You didn’t miss me at all?” he asks pretending to be hurt, Leo walks closer and takes his turn hugging his mom while Penny and Tom were goofing around, Alex can see the flashing lights with the corner of her eye, but tries to ignore them but Leo sees his mother’s discomfort, “I think the helicopter is ready.” He says nudging his father along, Tom looks up and sees that the helicopter was indeed ready, Leo is already helping Alex towards the helicopter.

They get inside and sit down Penny immediately leaving his arms to go sit to the free seat next to Alex, “She beat you to it.” Alex jokes.

“That’s fine by me.” He says, sitting on the window seat Tom looks down at the plane and reporters as marine one rises higher and higher in the sky he realizes that this trip that he dreaded so much at its beginning was probably the best one in his entire life.


	6. Chapter 6

Alex can feel a small hand nudging her, she tries to ignore it at first, this dream was so nice, she was back home with her family, and the bed felt so soft and warm she wanted to stay in that memory for ever.

“Mommy wake up” Penny’s voice puzzles her at first, it takes her a moment to understand that she’s not in the basement in Tarausi but she is indeed back home, with her daughter trying to wake her up, “Finally mommy!” Penny says as soon as Alex sits up, “Sorry peanut” Alex opens her arms for Penny and the young girl just curls up her mother, “What time is it” she asks looking around for the clock, “It’s 10 am” Penny says, “Oh, that’s late.” She says, “That’s why I woke you up,” Alex smiles, “Anything else?” she asks Penny poignantly “Can I go with Uncle Trey to buy things for the baby?” she asks, “If your uncle doesn’t mind”

“No he doesn’t I asked! But he told me to ask you” she says, Alex smiles “Alright but go tell Mike that you will go with your uncle alright?” Penny smiles widely and hugs Alex “I will, thank you mommy!”

Alex leans back watching her little girl run exited out the bedroom, looking around she notices that nothing has changed in the room in the six months she was gone, same photos around, all the furniture in the same place, Tom hadn’t even moved her laptop from the small desk close to the door.

She stands up taking her time to go to the bathroom, she avoids looking at the mirror this time, she takes a quick shower and walks to the closet, she doesn’t know what to do today, probably Kendra would know if there’s any significant event she would have to attend, but she imagines even if there is Kendra would still attend it given that by now she already has done all the required preparation. Walking in the closet she finds all her things exactly like she left them and signs in relief, she’s instantly drawn to her sweatpants and t-shirts, the need to just put on comfortable clothes and go back to bed and hide is too big, it takes all her willpower to turn away from them and back into a row of dresses, she looks at them and realizes that she has a lot she has never seen in here, she shakes her head and reaches for a well worn black sleeveless two piece, without Kendra’s help the skirt, shirt combination will be so much better and easier to put on than a dress.

She straightens the collar of the shirt and stands up slowly, it took her longer than she would like to get dressed but she doesn’t mind, she walks to the mirror opening the drawer she sees all of her makeup products, hair products and brushes waiting for her. she picks up her hair brush and starts brushing her hair slowly, they’re shorter than the last time she brushed them, she enjoys taking her time putting on makeup and pulling her hair back in a bun, to someone who doesn’t know she looks almost like herself. Almost as if nothing changed. Using the crutches is slowing her down but the cast is warming her leg enough she doesn’t want to add the extra heat from the boot as well.

Walking in the east sitting hall next to the bedroom she sees Kendra sitting at the table, a glass of orange juice in her hands as she’s reading the paper, “You didn’t go with Penny and Trey shopping?” Alex asks her, Kendra seems to be startled, “Oh, hey good morning, no, they ditched me.” She says putting the paper down, Alex walks and sits down on the chair next to Kendra’s “What’s on the paper?” she says reaching for the newspaper on the table, “You,” Alex sees on the front page a large picture of their arrival last night and shakes her head, “You’d think there would be more important things to care about.” She murmurs. “More important than the, not dead after all, wife of the president of the United States walking out of Air Force One?”Alex chuckles, of course her return was a big deal, she just wishes it wasn’t.

“Do you have anything to do today?” Alex asks Kendra, she seems to be uncomfortable, biting her lower lip for a moment, “Well I do have an event here in the White House actually” Alex feels almost jealous, she doesn’t know why but she doesn’t like the ease with which Kendra has settled into this life, her life.

“You should come, it’s a fun engagement, a science fair.” she says smiling, Alex is taken back, she didn’t expect Kendra to invite her along, she instantly felt guilty for being jealous of Kendra, she wasn’t her enemy, Kendra was her friend, a support system throughout her problems with the Icarus scandal. Alex smiles “Sure I’d love to, just to warn you though I’m clueless when it comes to science, never my strong subject.” Kendra throws her head back laughing “It wasn’t mine either.”

“How are you feeling?” Kendra asks her when they both stop laughing, Alex looks away, “I'm fine” she says trying to look anywhere but Kendra.

Kendra reaches over and takes her hand in hers, “Alex…” she says, it makes her realize that she can’t really hide, so she chuckles, “I’m trying, I’ll get there.” Kendra nods and pulls her hand back, she wants to ask Alex if she thought about seeing a therapist but she doesn’t know if it’s her place to, what if she oversteps her boundaries by suggesting it, she finds herself worried so much more now than she used to, it sounds stupid even in her head, now she’s part of their family, she's supposed to be able to speak freely with them now, but she doesn’t, at least she doesn’t with Alex, it took her some time to start talking openly to Tom so she imagines it will be the same with Alex. She tries to stop herself, not to interfere into Alex’s life, she says to herself it’s not her place to tell her what to do, “What’s going on Kendra?”

“Have you thought of seeing a therapist?” she blurts out, she almost cringes when the words leave her mouth, this is so out of her comfort zone after all. Alex takes a moment; she doesn’t say anything, had she thought about it? She can’t say she did, she knows she should though, she should definitely talk to someone, a special, telling Tom initially helped, he did take some of her burden, but it was short lived, no matter how much he loved her, no matter how much he tried he wasn’t in that basement with her, he didn’t know, and couldn’t understand what she was feeling, or how. He could try but it wasn’t the same. “No” she admits, looking down at the plate in front of her, she doesn’t want to look at Kendra, it’s not that she’s embarrassed, she knows Kendra will be sympathetic, that’s who she was, always, she just doesn’t want to face anyone at the moment.

“You should, it’s gonna help.” Kendra says, her voice slightly trembling, she looks down at her hands as well, playing with her engagement ring, her fingers miraculously not swelling up yet.

“Maybe.”

XXXX

Hannah was restless this morning, Aaron wanted her to take a break, he knew he needed as well, he tried suggesting last night that they should take a trip, maybe down to Virginia Beach, just the three of them, Amy would sure need it as well, she seemed to be well adjusted and acts, most of the times, as if nothing happened, but she lost her dad, her only living parent, and moved across an ocean to live with practically two strangers who had a weird roommate living situation. All this must be overwhelming to her, but Hannah came back late last night from god knows where and he was already asleep. When the morning came they were busy as usually, he could see something was bothering Hannah as she walked Amy out the door of their townhouse, but he chose to ignore it, instead smiled and waved to the teenager as she walked out the door.

“I have to set surveillance on Emily, she knows the first lady is back on the stage she might try to flee” she says as soon as she’s back in the kitchen, Aaron bites his lip, he knows that’s something she needs to do but can’t help but feel worried, he knows Emily well enough, she might seem harmless to the people around her but she’s far from it. “I know,” he murmurs, he can’t help the worry spreading in him. “I know just be careful alright?” he says, she turns around, her hair falling softly over her shoulder and smiles at him, it makes his heart flutter a little, “I will.” She reassures him and turns back to a back bag she always had ready throwing a few things in.

He follows her mindlessly to the door, she turns around and looks at him, he looks worried but she’s glad he doesn’t say anything, she can feel the danger creeping up, the worry that she might not return tying her stomach into a knot, she has learned the hard way to underestimate Emily Rhodes, she knows how deadly that woman is, she planned to kill her boss’ wife, the president’s wife, and didn’t blink an eye, she kept walking around the west wing, head held up high, pretending to be devastated about Alex Kirkman, going to her funeral shedding tears, seeing her husband break down, her daughter sob uncontrollably and she said nothing. A person like her is capable of anything, “You’ll pick Amy up right?” she asks him trying to pretend that nothing would be different this time, that when she closes the door behind her might not be the last, but that she will simply be a little late. That’s all; she tries to reassure herself she will simply be a little late.

Aaron smiles, he knows full well what she’s trying to do, he decides, ignoring his better instincts to go along with it, so he smiles and nods, “Yeah don’t worry.” He tells her. With one last smile towards him she turns around and leaves the door behind her closing and Aaron finds himself unable to even hold his mug in his hand any longer.

The sound of the ceramic breaking doesn’t startle him; he’s too far gone to care, he’s alone for the first time in what feels like years but knows to be months, he realizes even when he was waiting for Mike and the president to come over he wasn’t alone, he thought he was, but he wasn’t. he walks cautiously to the couch, trying not to step on the pieces of the broken mug on the floor and sits down, his head is spinning, for the first time he realizes just how tired he is, he’s exhausted, there’s no use in hiding it anymore.

He thinks back when Hannah first appeared at his doorstep with Amy in tow…

_“Hannah?” he looks at her standing right there, in front of him, whole, alive. When she didn’t contacted him for over a day his mind was spinning, he didn’t know what to think so naturally he thought of the worse, after all this was the story of his life. “Aaron can we come in?” she says, he looks a little to her left and sees a young girl there, she can’t be older than 16 he thought, “Sure” he steps aside startled, the girl smiles and walks in first, Hannah follows her shortly. He stands there, back against the door as he sees the two women getting comfortable in his apartment, the girl whose name still doesn’t know took off her shoes and placed them under his coffee table before curling in the corner of his couch, taking the throw blanket he always has there and wrapping it around herself. Hannah on the other hand was sitting up straight on the other side of the couch, not relaxing one bit, he realizes he missed her, he missed her so much in the short time she was gone. He walks closer to her, when she sees him move she stands up, “Can we talk somewhere else?” she asks him, Aaron nods and turns towards the second bedroom he has turned into a small home office, “Amy we’ll be back soon.” Hannah says to the girl, ‘so that’s her name after all’, Aaron muses she walks into the office herself and Aaron closes the door behind her…_

He remembers her telling him what she found out, showing him the clip from Valeria’s flash drive, he couldn’t believe it at first, how could he, he had worked with Emily for almost a year now. And sure she was unorganized as a Chief of staff and sure she was annoying him more often than not, and maybe she had no idea how the hierarchy in the White House works but she wasn’t a traitor, she couldn’t be. At first he dismissed her evidence, thought everything was bs, maybe some plot by Valeria or Damien to frame Emily.

She told him to open his eyes and see the light, he thought she was being manipulated, when she left, with Amy in tow, that night the sound of the door slamming behind them haunted him for days. It took him a couple days to realize that Hannah had a leg to stand on, sure on first sight Emily looked nice, sweet, maybe a little amateur, but dedicated and loyal, but he realized that if you scratch the surface the real Emily comes out, and that woman is cold, calculating, manipulative, how could she betray everyone like that he couldn’t know, he still doesn’t, it’s not something his brain can wrap around. 

It took him a week, it was just the beginning of the campaign, the west wing was frantic and he just could get some glimpses of Emily returning to the west wing, at first she was there just helping, she would act as a spokesperson, she would make some tv appearances, not too much, nothing too important, but soon enough he saw her slither back in to the president’s inner circle. It was Friday, way past midnight when he found himself unable to sleep and drove to her apartment, he saw a light on and thought about going up or not, he remembers sitting in his car for about thirty minutes when he heard a tap on the window…

_“Will you stay here all night?” he looks at her shocked, her knocking on the glass startled him “Sorry I didn’t know if you wanted to talk to me.” He says honestly._

They talk for hours, Hannah carefully explaining to him everything she knew.

That was almost two months ago, since then Hannah’s house was broken into and she and Amy moved in with him, his apartment not equipped to house three people, he doesn’t know how they ended up buying a townhouse but they did, they told themselves that if need to be they can separate the two floors to two different apartments. They still haven’t figured out exactly how they will do that but neither seems to be interested in it.

He shakes his head, trying to clear his mind from all the thoughts that are almost drowning him. He looks at the clock at the wall right above the fireplace and groans he is going to be late for work again, he realizes more often than not that he can’t keep his thoughts in order any more, more and more often he seems to be forgetting, ignoring overlooking things. The past year has aged him greatly, he feels at least a decade older, he imagines he needs some time off and maybe when this whole mess with Emily ends he will get just that.

XXXX

Alex ended up going to a science fair held at the White House, it was fun, being around happy children, way smarter than you’d imagine, was a nice change. When the fair was over, she tells Kendra she needs some time and leaves, her feet carry her to the west wing but she doesn’t know why, at first she thought of visiting Tom, seeing how he’s doing but she knows that he must be busy, and decides against it. She turns around and walks upstairs, the farthest away from the oval office, something went off inside her, she knows who she wants to see and Aaron is the only one who can make it happen. She knocks and walks in his office, he looks surprised, didn’t expect anyone to come around, much less her. “Ma’am” he closes the folder in front of him, “Is there anything I can do?” he asks her. Alex smiles and walks inside, sitting on one of the chairs in front of the desk, “I want to have a word with you.”

“Sure ma’am, how’s your first day so far?” he tries to be polite, he doesn’t know what she wants to talk to him about but he’s sure it can’t be really good after all. “Good” she says, he notices that she looks down at her hands, not at him “I attended a science fair.” she says, barely raising her eyes to look at him for a moment.

“Sounds interesting” he says, she chuckles and looks up for the first time since she entered the room, she looks tired, her eyes haunted, her experiences in the past six months still way too fresh in her head, but for a moment as she thinks back to the kids she met today it seemed like the horrors left her eyes for a while.

“These children made me feel old and stupid.” She says joking, Aaron chuckles; he gets the idea having been in science fairs with his nieces and nephews “They make all of us feel that way.” He says, they stay silent for a while but the lack of sounds make him suffocate, “What did you wanted to talk about ma’am?” he asks he knows it can’t be good and wants to take it out of the way sooner rather than later, “I’d like to talk to Hannah, she’s on Emily’s trail and I am sure my statement is needed; I’d like to give it to her.” he’s surprised he definitely didn’t expect that, he thought it was possible that she wanted to yell at him for endangering her husband maybe for living her alone in that basement for almost half an hour but not this, he knew eventually she would have to give a testament, but he always thought she would prefer to give it to another FBI agent and not Hannah, apparently this wasn’t the case, “Are you sure you’re ready ma’am?” he asks, this ordeal must be deeply hurtful for her but here she was wanting to talk about it, “Hannah can wait a couple days if you need it.” He tells her trying to make clear that she doesn’t have to do anything she’s not hundred percent sure it’s the right thing to do for her, she smiles, it’s sad and doesn’t reach her eyes like it used to she shakes her head a little, almost as if she’s trying to shake something from her head. “No I am ready; just tell her to come over as soon as possible.” Without another word she just stands up “Yes ma’am.” He says, she nods goodbye and leaves leaving a speechless Aaron behind to drop on his chair.

XXXX

“She wants to talk to me? Aaron we don’t have the best of relationships are you sure?” Hannah thought at first there was something wrong with her phone, she was almost certain she was the last imaginable person alive Alex Kirkman would like to talk to but here she was actually hearing it from Aaron’s mouth, so there must have been some issue with her phone.

“Yeah she told me so.” Aaron says, she bites her lips, her eyes focus back on Emily’s apartment, she hasn’t come out of it as long as she’s been here, she knows she will eventually but so far it’s been draining.

“Oh.” She’s not sure how to feel about it, she wants to talk to Mrs. Kirkman she has the best view of what happened with Emily’s biggest betrayal but she wasn’t sure if she could, indirectly she was responsible aiding Emily, she didn’t know it of course but she took her bait hook line and sinker.

“Should I tell her ok?” Aaron asks, he almost senses her discomfort, his tone changes, it takes her aback at first, but stops the thought in her head, she doesn’t have time for that, and he shouldn’t be that close to her either “Let me think about it, I’ll let you know soon.” She says and hangs up, she doesn’t wait for him to say another word, she needs to stay focused and so does he.

XXXX

Alex went back to the residence, she sat down in the living room Tom seemed to have made some changes in this room, the dining table was gone letting the space empty, she also notices some thicker carpets around the area, she smiles, he is probably preparing for a new baby running around the place, she has to say she’s happy he seems to be planning ahead for a life in the White House for at least some time. The happiness is short lived though and soon enough her guilt starts engulfing her, she could still be the reason he loses the elections, she could be the reason he loses a job he clearly likes. It eats her away, how is he going to react, is he going to blame her for it, will they make it out of this season together?

She tries to ignore the daunting thoughts in her head, it’s not worth worrying about right now, she got a second chance at a life with her family, she’s not willing to waste it worrying. Alex decides to get a shower and maybe some sleep, the excitement of her return has worn her down a bit, she found many people excited to see her back and has forgotten how many people stopped her throughout the day to shake her hand, say a simple welcome back. It was nice she wasn’t going to lie, it was really nice.

XXXX

_“I'm sorry.” He says, she looks back at him, he’s young not really older than thirty five and seems nice, he sure is caring, she knows that from the way his hands move over the gauges in her arm as he carefully cleans her cuts, her hand is still cuffed to the side of the bed, she’s the prisoner but for some reason he seems to be in less control of the situation than her, “Then let me go, my husband, my kids, they need me” she pleads him, the image of Tom grief stricken attending a funeral with probably no body, Penny and Leo by his side, she can’t bear to even think of their faces, some nights when she’s lucid free from the dizzying haze of the painkillers she would dream of their faces, smiling as they run through the rose garden but they would suddenly change, their smiles turning to frowns, the tears of happiness become tears of sadness and sorrow and an accusing look would take over their faces, asking her the most simple question she didn’t have the answer to ‘Why did you leave us?’_

_“I wish I could” he says, it takes her by surprise, she didn’t expect that she’s about to ask him to do it then, to let her out, after all he does have the keys, he can let her out but he stops her before uttering a word, “I can’t they’ll kill me and then they’ll kill you.” He says, she can see the terror flash in his eyes when he mentions of ‘them’ but she doesn’t care, she is sick and tired of the dark and cold basement she wants to go back to her family, and she wants that now._

_“So what’s the solution keeping here for the rest of my life?” her explosion seemed to have startled him, he dropped the box he had with the new gauges over “Why not kill me then?” she asks again, this time her voice a little softer, she doesn’t want to think of dying but if there’s truly no way out of here she came to the conclusion that it’s not a life worth living._

_“Because of those kids.” He says, he bites his lip, it intrigues Alex, she wants to know more but she doesn’t dare to ask, these words reminded her the main reason why she couldn’t give up, she was a mother, she had made a promise to her kids to be there no matter what the day they were born and she sure wasn’t going to break it, not if she had any say in it. “I couldn’t, when I saw that you survived the car accident and that you were going to make a full recovery I couldn’t, I had nothing to do with planning the accident, I couldn’t stop that, but I could stop them from killing you.” He says, the emotions in his voice shock Alex, she didn’t expect that, she thought he was part of the plan all along, that for some reason he was trying to mess with her head by being nice, but here she was sitting next to him and she realized that one of her captors was as much prisoner as she was._

_“So what’s the plan now?” she asks him, her hope and spirits reborn after realizing that she might have just found an ally in this hell, ”I don’t know. Maybe your husband will find out what Emily did.” He says, the name Emily throws her off, “Emily?” she asks him, the look of confusion on her face seems to have taken him aback, “You don’t know do you?” he asks._

_“Know what?” she asks, there’s a noise from above which startles them both, the man seems to be pulled back into some different state of mind, he turns back to look at her, “I have to go. Eat.” He says and almost runs up the stairs._

“Alex?” the sound of her name startles her awake, it takes her a moment to realize where she is, Tom is standing above her, a smirk on his lips “You fell asleep on the couch.”

XXXX

Aaron was putting away the dinner plates when his phone rang, it surprised him enough to drop the plate he was washing, the shreds cut his hands, “Shit!” he curses under his breath as he reaches for his phone, “Shore!”

“Aaron?” he smiles when he hears Hannah’s voice, “Hey when you coming home?” he asks taking a paper napkin and putting pressure on the cut to stop the bleeding. “Not tonight,” she says and the smile instantly falls from his face, “I’ll keep an eye on Emily I can see some movement in her apartment, I called to tell you I will meet with the first lady, just give me a couple days.”


End file.
